Eyes of the Referee
by TarundoruSlap
Summary: Prince of Tennis through the traumatized and amazed eyes of the referee, who expected little kids tripping. Not doing stuff that shouldn't be possible. Rated T for language and 'tennis violence' for upcoming chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer- I don't own PoT...**

When he got the job, he was pretty damn happy for some weird reason. He knew he shouldn't be that happy, since all he was doing was sitting in an adult-version of a baby's high-chair and shouting out names and numbers. Tennis was cool. So he supposed he would have fun yelling out said things in said high-chair at tired players.

Sure, he wouldn't be some famous guy with girls chasing after him, but being ref was something, he assured himself. Something good would come out of this for sure.

The qualified referee thought he was in for exciting, unexpected twists and turns in his life as a tennis referee. Nothing too shocking, just normal tennis matches like on TV. So... not exactly crazy twists turns, just some shocking and exhilarating stuff here and there.

He didn't expect to be assigned to middle schoolers. Goddamn middle schoolers. Granted, there were other people who refereed the middle schoolers, and they were oddly satisfied with it, saying that "They're a bunch of crazy kids, man. Don't underestimate the kids." Yeah, no. Screw normal tennis, he'd be surprised if they were able to hit the ball back and forth without tripping, faulting or getting it out.

His theory was supported by his nieces and nephews, who couldn't play tennis to save the lives. Granted, he shouldn't expect that from qualified Regulars even if they were teenagers, but still.

God knows he didn't expect to hear and see three freshman who were magical bumblebees with serious skill to dominate the courts. Bumblebees, he had thought. Freaking bumblebees. With three freshmen on their team.

Of course, he heard it from a fellow ref who babbled all about it one day in the meeting room. "B-Black and yellow uniforms- Rikkaidai- Skill- BOSS." That was what he heard. According to another fellow ref, he had meant to say, "Kids wearing black and yellow uniforms from Rikkaidai with skill. They are so freaking boss. I think. That or 'Kids wearing black and yellow uniforms from Rikkaidai with no skill. Totally not boss."

Our referee had stared blankly at the two of them and walked out of the room silently.

He didn't believe the guy, so his first thought was "God, they must suck." He believed the second statement, of course.

And then he heard of two other teams from Tokyo and one from Chiba that they had freshmen Regulars too. The poor referee was getting pissed. Very, very pissed, as his thinking was straight and blunt- "What. The. Hell."

Damn it, he'd be lucky if they could hit the damn ball. He knew not to underestimate the kids, as the other referees had warned him.

Don't underestimate them. Yeah. Easier said than done. Let's expect them to bust out fancy moves that shouldn't be possible.

The referee scoffed as he was thinking these things, rolling a tennis ball around in his hands above his head that night as he lay in his bed, mulling the non-exciting things to come.

Something good will come out of this, he told himself desperately. It will.

Yes, he knew little brats wouldn't be that good.

He restrained a bored sigh as he watched the match before him between two schools with no freshmen regulars. But still being spectacularly boring. He restrained yet another yawn.

"Double fault! 15-0!"

He couldn't remember how many times they had hit the goddamn net. He pitied the net. But he pitied the tennis ball more as it was hit roughly by the racket again- and slammed fiercely into the gate as the serve's recipient squealed in fright.

The poor referee almost slapped his hand to his forehead as the courts were silent after the poor boy's terrified and un-manly squeal.

"Tch, either of these is the school Ore-sama's magnificent Hyotei will be crushing to tomorrow? It'll be a breeze. But... Not saying it would've been hard for Ore-sama to crush them either way, ahn?"

Oh dear god, it was an arrogant rich kid. Who was a captain. And a freshman. A rich, arrogant freshman captain. Who played tennis.

The game itself wouldn't be interesting, but who said he couldn't enjoy the show of this guy's pompous ass being shoved around by someone older than him?

The referee's day brightened. But not much.

**Oh my god. Why did I write this. Why the heck did I write this? *shot* WARNING- UPDATES WILL BE VERY RANDOM**

**This is like a prologue, but not really a prologue. It was supposed to be one one-shot, but then I got lazy and decided to make it an ongoing thing.**

**My second fic on the PoT fandom... And it's probably worse than my first. I HAVE SHAMED THE PRINCE OF TENNIS FANDOM... DAMN IT.**

**Pink is the New Black, Fukubuchou! was my first. And... I ACTUALLY GOT REVIEWS :D I'm not advertising my fic. Nope.**

**I have a question- Should I actually do the first two years? Like, the years when Ryoma isn't there, or should I skip right to when Ryoma comes? And should I put hints of pairings? It's from a referee's perspective, but still...**

**So. Suggestions. PM me or review... If there's anyone reading this T_T**

**So... Thx for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer- I don't own Prince of Tennis or the referee...**

The referee had always loved tennis. He could never play well, but he could play. Kind of.  
But he loved tennis, even if he didn't play well. Or play much, for that matter. He highly enjoyed watching tennis matches, be it up close or on the TV shouting at the players. He was a bit obsessed with Andre Agassi and Najiroh Echizen before they both retired, much to his displeasure.

When he was younger, he had went to Shitenhouji. Yes, Shitenhouji. Land of comedic people and very weird tennis players. Now, he knew that his senpai were amazing at tennis and longed to be part of the Regulars. But no, he was never able to make it and thus watched on the sidelines as they pummelled and got pummelled. Mainly pummelled by Rikkaidai because they were crazy tennis freaks that shouldn't exist.

But as he got older, he reasoned with himself that the tennis he saw in Middle School and High School were, of course, just a figment of his young imagination, as invisible balls, rackets on fire and blood on the courts wasn't logically possible. Because tennis wasn't that dangerous.

Compared to football, which his son was obsessed with. Blegh. Football.

And so, the young boy who was regularly awestruck by his senpai's entered the world of adults, where so many things were logicallized and normal. No crazy, out of the world tennis moves, just returns, smashes, lobs and drop shots.

Adults. Believing what was the most normal and most logical.

But still obsessed with tennis, even if it wasn't invisible balls or flaming rackets, he became a referee. As long as it was tennis, the fun game of hitting the ball back and forth, he'd be satisfied, as long as they didn't suck. So they had to be adults or teenagers almost turned into adults.

Watching kids trip was fun and all, but he wanted tennis.

The only things he felt and didn't show when his boss said he'd be refereeing middle schoolers were shock and exasperation.

Could he not enjoy his sophisticated, smooth tennis without being interrupted with kids that didn't understand the science and logic of tennis? Because frankly, he didn't want to deal with kids screaming illogical things about the match like, "The Invisible Serve!"

Really, he didn't.

But he went along with it, as boring as his first matches were.

Then he started seeing the bigger tennis schools. Hyotei, Shitenhouji, Seigaku, Rikkaidai, Rokkaku, Yamabuki. And the rough tennis of Higa and Fudomine.

Granted, he wasn't lucky enough to ref Rikkaidai or Shitenhouji until Nationals, but was able to ref Hyotei's game only on his fifth match.

Sure, he didn't believe that they were like tennis gods who could use unbelievable moves or amazingly professional tennis at such a young age, but it would prove more entertainment than his previous matches. Entertaining meaning entertaining to watch Hyotei's freshmen and entertaining as in more high-class tennis from Hyotei's upperclassmen.

God knows he didn't expect for Hyotei's freshmen to easily crush the other team.

Now, when our referee was younger, he really wanted to go to the King's school. Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku Chuu. A mouthful, but an incredibly talented school that crushed everyone in their paths. And I mean crushed, as in panting on the ground crushed. And don't forget the part where they say, "This is the power of Rikkaidai...!"

But no, he got into the cheerful, comedic Shitenhouji who had their fair share of awesome tennis players, but not enough to defeat King Rikkaidai. Nope.

But he was content in his... Odd school.

It was really no use to describe the Hyotei vs What's-its-name match, as Hyotei had easily finished it at Singles 3.

Doubles was incredible for a school like this. The referee knew Hyotei was probably the second strongest after Rikkaidai, but he found out that like Rikkaidai, they had been taken over by freshmen too.

Atobe Keigo, the man- Um, the... rich, talented boy at the top of Hyotei, commanding everything and anything in the school to make it so incredibly perfect at his young age with amazing composure and confidence that was easily backed up by his skills, so no one could really say he was too arrogant, as he was just outstandingly honest.

Turns out he was the arrogant little brat that he thought was going to clean the courts with his butt. The referee had stared blankly at the kid, who had stared back at him, smirking, before saying the most infuriating thing he could to one of his elders.

"Ahn? It seems that this referee has been awed by Ore-sama's presence. As he should be."

The referee had stared blankly at the brat again, before turning back to what was supposed to happen. "Doubles Two for the Hyotei-Shinsei match, please come to the courts!"

"Oshitari, Mukahi. Show those commoners the power of Hyotei, na?" Atobe smirked, and pointed them into the directions of courts.

"Yeah, yeah Atobe." Mukahi said dismissively, walking towards the courts, Oshitari smirking before going after him.

Hyotei. Hyotei was never one of his choices for a school, simply because he thought it was full of prats, and he wasn't rich or 'high-class' enough to enter.

Ignore the brat. Ignore the brat. Ignore the brat-

"Referee, shouldn't you be watching the match? So incompetent."

Due to him playing a lot of Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright when he was a teenager and a young adult (Meaning he still played it) he fought the sudden urge to yell "OBJECTION!" and slap his face as the makeshift table.

"...Hyotei's Oshitari to serve!"

Needless to say, Hyotei was full of tennis freaks too. Also needless to say, they totally pummelled Shinsei.

Something that was needed to be said- Atobe was a monster at tennis. Nothing else. A relentless, cold, calculating tennis monster than figured out the way to destroy his opponent easily in a flashy way. Cueing all the screams from the fans.

"KYAAA, ATOBE-SAMA!"

"WAAH, IT'S THE HAMETSU NO RONDO! (Rondo Towards Destruction)"

Yes. Instead of the Invisible Serve screams, it had instead turned into Hametsu no Rondo screams.

The referee sighed and decided to just go to the flow of the little brats' tennis. Let's see what happens next, he told himself.

He never expected his life as a tennis referee to be like this, that's for sure.

**Yays for fillers that turned into something else near the end? This chapter was originally a filler just to get some more people to understand the referee more, like his views on tennis and why he became a referee. **

**The chapter was originally too short, like 500 or 600 words. Fillers are often kind of short, but I just wanted it to be longer. So I put in a bit of Hyotei at the end. Just because I felt like it.**

**Plus I made a filler to get more votes on whether or not I should skip to Ryoma or drag through the first two years for two or three chapters, just explaining his reactions to Yukimura, Tezuka and such, and his slow understand of how they aren't normal middle schoolers. And the vague pairings and such, where you see hints here and there but the ref thinks it's just a close friendship.**

**Thank you for reviewing! I didn't expect this to be that popular, but it already has some reviews and follows, which I am very thankful for. I'll reply with PM's from time to time, but starting from this chapter, I'll be replying after the Author's Note at the bottom.**

**Thanks for reading! Please give some feedback.**


	3. Chapter 3

**REVIEWS GALORE! To some people, it's not much, but for only two chapters to have 11 reviews... I am very happy. Our poor referee seems to have intrigued some people.**

**But... Only a few people voted on whether or not to skip the first two years or not... So I decided to do 'character development' (But it's not really character development) and put in two, maybe three chapters of the two prior years to see if the referee gets a little more used to it or not.**

**I did as much research as I could for the first year... The second year will be better, but not as good as Ryoma's... XD Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- Still don't own Prince of Tennis...**

The referee didn't really have anything to say about his first year as a referee other than _damn, I wish I could play tennis like that._

And _holy crap, this isn't how middle schoolers should play tennis! It's a freaking game of hitting the ball back and forth, not some kind of game where you injure the opponent with freaky supernatural moves!_

Rikkaidai had easily powered their way into winning Nationals again. For the third time in a row, but this time with new additions- Crazy freshmen.

Hyotei had shown surprising strength with their new additions of freshmen, as did Shitenhouji with some kid with his arm wrapped in bandages.

Seigaku had stayed somewhat the same, from what he had heard. With one freshmen, they still hadn't been able to continue their struggle to the stop, barely getting into the Kanto Regionals only to be knocked out in the second round.

But all in all, he was able to ref amazing matches, regardless of their age. He still was a bit unsure as to whether or not they were freshmen, let alone Middle Schoolers with this kind of tennis, but accepted it. Kind of.

He was able to fluidly get through most matches without stammering, unless it was Hyotei. Because with Hyotei, he was always wrapped up in his thoughts about how pompous and arrogant the Atobe kid was about 'how wonderful' he was and 'how lucky they were to be in his presence.'

He really, really, really disliked the blonde-haired brat, blue-eyed brat, regardless of his awe-inspiring tennis and prowess. He was 'awed by his prowess' and all, but the arrogance was really disappointing from a guy with skills like this. Sure, he was telling the truth since he the skills to back it up, but really?

Then there was Rikkaidai, who were eerily silent but confident about their tennis. And they had reason to be so confident with such skilled freshmen who would probably cause chaos in their next two years, since it was guaranteed they'd become Regulars again.

And that one freshman who looked like he'd like to smash everyone's faces into the ground while smiling. It was very, very unsettling for a twelve-year old to be staring creepily while smiling serenely at one of his senpai who had frozen and walked away quietly with hands shaking while his friends called after him.

That kid's smile practically screamed 'If you insult me or my friends, I will gladly hunt you down, torture you by eating your face, burn you, dance on your ashes and revive you to do it all over again while having the time of my life.'

He didn't understand why two strong schools were filled with freaks.

His friends weren't that bad, but the closed-eye one with a straight face ever so slightly unsettled him with his frequent mutterings of numbers, data, and that person's profile. That included private things. Our referee never did well at math, so he didn't understand half of what the kid was saying.

The other one seemed much calmer and steadier, with a straight face and sharp eyes, but the referee didn't dispel the possibilities that the kid would become a freak in his next years with friends like that.

Seigaku was normal enough, and very average, compared to other two with calm, cheerful teenagers that had pretty basic tennis with the exception of a few moves and skills, but not as astounding and surprising as Rikkaidai. Or Shitenhouji for that matter.

Shitenhouji was like Seigaku. Average. Rikkaidai was above Shitenhouji but below the rich Hyotei. But in tennis skill, Shitenhouji was above Seigaku and perhaps the same as Hyotei more or less, but Rikkaidai topped everyone else.

But Shitenhouji definitely won out in freakiness. Not freakiness exactly, but craziness was a definite yes. They were unpredictable jokesters with amazing tennis skill.

There were other schools that were good at tennis too, but none stood out like the above four. Granted, Seigaku wasn't that notable, but fellow referees were always talking about the great Samurai Nanjiro who came from Seigaku, saying that Seigaku would definitely get out of their slump and find their next Nanjiro.

The referee accepted the kids steadily but a bit unsurely, stunned by their level of tennis and maturity, and grasped just how special the kids would become when they were older, and was glad he was able to see how they started and referee their first matches leading to greatness.

He was prepared to see more freakiness the next year, but believed that it wouldn't be that much more crazy.

Oh, how wrong he was with Shitenhouji and Seigaku gaining new captains and vice-captains that were only second-years and the inevitable additions of new Regulars to each team and the dynamic entry of Shishigaku's Wings of Kyuushu.

**You know what? I'm getting tired of calling the referee 'referee.' Anyone want to suggest a name for our nameless friend?**

**Like I said, there wasn't much character development. I'm not good with character development. This chapter was supposed to be this short, yes. It was actually longer than I expected. The chapters will gradually become more detailed with matches and such once we get into Ryoma's timeline, I just want to ease into the referee's role.**

**REPLIES TO REVIEWS**

**Nispendana- Thanks for taking the time to review! Haha, it's nice to know that it's an interesting idea. I have to confess that I was very unsure of posting about such a minor character. And you're right, tennis isn't meant to be dangerous- The players are. I love Shitenhouji, so I decided to use a school that didn't appear as much as I liked and something a bit unexpected for the ref.**

**midnightstealth- I didn't think it was that creative at first, but I have to say I'm getting a bit fond of our dear referee. Thanks for the review!**

**TrappedBeat- I have to admit it is rather different from a lot of other fics in the archive, since there's a lot of romance fics. I don't have a problem with it either, since I generally like romance, but I like writing friendship and comedy instead of romance and drama. It's nice to know that you like the brief humour in here! Thanks so much for your review!**

**LainellaFay- Hi, thanks for reviewing my fic! Ahaha, I wanted our referee to turn into a freak, but in the brief appearances he has, he's a generally normal adult who's surprised as easily as everyone else. And yes, the King Rikkaidai has been king for longer than actually said in the series. They say they've only been champs for two years, but I decided that as great as they are, it's hard to believe they'd be called the King for only two years, so I decided to make it so that they were champions for four years before being defeated by Seigaku. And thanks for the vote, you were one of the few people who did vote!**


	4. Chapter 4

The referee's mouth opened and closed silently. He pushed back the sudden urge to gesture around wildly as if to say, "What. The. Fuck. Is. This. Shit."

Really. He wanted to know what shit this was. Sure, he learned not to underestimate the brats (much) but he couldn't help it. He was a realistic adult who didn't believe in the supernatural!

Then this happened. All this crap that royally screwed with his mind.

But he was the referee. THE referee. He would not show any weakness. Other than stuttering and staring, which the rich brat always made fun of, even with their unspoken truce to not rudely wish them death. Of course, that didn't stop the referee. It was unspoken, after all.

He resisted the other urge to yell, "FOUL!" at the unsuspecting tennis freak.

I mean, who the heck could take away a fellow middle schooler's senses without being thoroughly chided and punished? Actually, why the heck is it even allowed?!

Yukimura freaking Seiichi, the Child of God and already the leader of Rikkaidai. The kid he was really creeped out by last year because of his smile and stare? Yeah. Turns out he was some magical fairy that could return anything calmly while saying spiritual stuff that was still enough for a realistic adult. And he could take away someone's senses.

Now, the referee was rather fond of the fact that the kid would say things realistically and bluntly. Yeah, he totally agreed with the fact that there was only one ball and that the ball can never disappear, but this kid was plain crazy. What the heck happened to 'you can't lose your senses from hitting the ball?'

Not to mention the fact that if Yukimura was a girl, he'd look like an angel with the gentle waves of purply-blue hair and serene blueish-purple eyes. He wasn't gay or anything, he was just stating the fact that Yukimura was very, very pretty.

"Yukimura made him lose his senses with the ball."

As an adult, he should be thinking rationally. He shouldn't have thought, "if that was phrased differently, it'd have sounded very, very wrong."

Atobe, who was on the sidelines, had sneered at the referee's red face. Having heard the comment from that trickster, Niou, he knew why his face was so red. "Tch, ore-sama was beginning to think you were a mature adult with tolerable refereeing skills. Much to ore-sama's chagrin, but not much to his surprise, ore-sama was wrong."

The referee wasn't sure if he should be ecstatic on the fact that he had proved the brat wrong on something or pissed that the thing he had proved the brat wrong on was his capabilities as an adult.  
He decided to ignore it and finally yell, "Game and match to Yukimura Seiichi, 6-0! Rikkaidai will be moving on to the next round!"

Rikkaidai was a skilled school with freaks. EVERYWHERE.

By the way, this was somewhere around the middle of the Kanto Regionals.

I'm pretty sure no one's confused, but let's zoom back to the beginning of our referee's terrifying second year where he witnessed the true power of Rikkaidai's demons. And the Hyotei King's frigid tennis, along with the Seigaku fukubuchou's logic-defying zone and drop shot. The Two Wings of Kyushu and their sudden drop out of the circuit and Shitenhouji's Bible, Comedy Pair and Speed Star.

Needless to say, his second year would be that much more interesting. And frightening.

The referee fisted his hands in his hair the night he saw Yukimura's Yips in action, slamming his forehead against his work desk. _At least I'm not their buchou or fukubuchou._ he thought blandly.

Ahem. Anyways, the referee thought he was cursed. He sincerely thought that someone had cursed him. Not because of being stuck with kids with highly unrealistic tennis. He was proud to say that he knew them, of course, but as the guy who shouts stuff out. But still. Unrealistic.

No. He thought he was cursed because he refereed Hyotei's match every. Single. Time. Therefore, he and Atobe Keigo always had weird stare-offs before Atobe scoffed and said something, which would make the referee turn away, curse underneath his breath, and bark out stuff to the kids.

Atobe freaking Keigo. According to him, he was clearly dazzled by his brilliance.

Anyways, back to the very beginning of his second year as a referee, where his first match was one between two non-important schools.

Talented, but not I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass-without-a-sweat-'cause-I'm -badass talented. More like Okay-I'll-try-my-best-to-beat-you talented.

The referee had his own fair share of normal, casual tennis. It was a relief to see these matches between all the lackluster matches with all the tripping kids and everything along with the insane tennis with flaming... everything. Flaming auras, flaming rackets, flaming balls- Um, tennis balls- and flaming people.

Those kids weren't human, he knew.

He still watched the match with avid eyes and a straight face, and opened his mouth to call "Game to Igusa's Mamoru, 5 games to 4!" when a tall, grey-haired, dark-eyed third year smashed furiously on the opposite side of where his opponent stood.

He grinned victoriously as said opponent chuckled and muttered something only Mamoru could hear. The referee gave a small smile to the wonderfully normal teenagers, telling them who would serve.

The match continued on like that, as a peaceful game with laughs, grunts and occasional sighs of frustration and in exhaustion.

It occurred to him that Seigaku was like that- Then first-years took over and created monster tennis that seemed more like miniature wars on a court and the weapons were tennis balls and their supernatural brains.

What teenager says stuff like, "I see everything?"

Hyotei was the apparent "Okay, let's do this and go all the way to the top" team that would have succeeded after winning their matches against Seigaku and powering their way to the semi-finals of the Kanto Tournament-

Only to be crushed by Rikkaidai. Hard.

The match with Seigaku was challenging enough on both sides, more Seigaku than Hyotei. Doubles was unsurprisingly equal, with Seigaku winning Doubles 2 and Hyotei winning Doubles 1.

Then it made its way to Singles Three- Tezuka Kunimitsu vs the Captain of Hyotei.

No, not Atobe Keigo. The former captain that had been defeated mercilessly by the rich kid was still on the team due to his skills- Even if they didn't match up to the little brat himself.

Tezuka defeated him with a humiliating 6 games to one, which the referee found terribly amusing.

Dear god, how many times has this guy lost for underestimating his opponent?

Atobe Keigo had returned the favour by defeating Seigaku's captain six games to three, as he was actually rather talented.

Damn freshmen. Always ruining his sanity after tiredly retrieving it so his wife wouldn't go crazy about how tired and exasperated he seemed. ("Dear, maybe you should take a break. Those kids are clearly exhausting you-" "Honey, it's okay, I just need a bit of rest-" "But-")

Then Hyotei was crushed by Rikkaidai but were still able to make it to the Nationals only to be defeated by Shitenhouji.

The referee desperately wanted to laugh in the brat's irritated and disappointed look, but decided he should set an example as to how a proper adult should act when faced with an opportunity anyone would want to take.

The poor referee was put at wits end when Atobe started ranting and complaining about him, the matches, the referee, him, his prowess, the referee, Shitenhouji, Hyotei's prowess, and finally the referee.

He knew he wanted the job and all, but he honestly, truly, never signed up to listen to this little brat.

The Shitenhouji vs Rikkaidai match was overwhelming and powerful, especially to him, the only person other than the players on the dangerous court.

Even Doubles, which he usually didn't care much for even if seeing the cooperation and teamwork was amazing, was as outstanding and awing as a regular singles match between Seigaku and Hyotei. But Singles for Shitenhouji and Rikkaidai was awe-inspiring and indescribable.

The Doubles line-up? Doubles 2 was Zaizen Hikaru and Koshikawa Kenjiro of Shitenhouji vs Yanagi Renji and Nishimura Jun. Doubles 1 was just the seniors of each school against each other.

How did both of the matches go?

The referee sat in his chair, gaping and frozen at the sheer power and brilliance of the champions Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku Chuu as they crushed Shitenhouji without even trying, sweeping them in a clean, clear, "6 games to love!"

Rikkaidai... They were all monsters. He admired them because of their flawless runs and beautiful tennis, even if they didn't win Nationals. But they always got to Nationals, showing their absolute brilliance and prowess in tennis. Even if he had been upset about the defeat from them, it was still wondrous being able to see a match between his school and one of the best schools in the circuit.

Then he became a referee and saw just how ruthlessly powerful Rikkaidai was, and how glorious they were in their prime and how defensive they were of their pride and power.

Singles 3 was Oshitari Kenya vs Mouri Juzaburo.

The speedy second-year was easily downed by the Rikkaidai Senior in a show of relentless power, laying on the court and gasping as the referee called out the score without stuttering, which he found quite the accomplishment.

"Game and match to Mouri Juzaburo, six games to love!"

Swept in straight, clean sets, all 6-0. Everyone was awestruck by Rikkaidai's display, and some slightly frightened.

Relief and uncertainty flooded him that night when he replayed the match over and over again, fearful shudders racking through his body when he saw Mouri's absolutely feral grin appear in his mind again as he didn't even hesitate driving a large hole through Kenya's pride and Shitenhouji's cheerfulness. Yanagi Renji's steady stare, calculations flying from his mouth and closed eyes intimidating his opponents thoroughly by his relentless stare, as if he was peeling layer off of layer just to see their insides and see how he could win.

Shitenhouji. Zaizen's and Koshikawa's clear discomfort during their match and the pure agony and disappointment that had forced its way onto their faces when they realized they had lose the match. Zaizen, the poor child, he looked so incredibly vulnerable and innocent in that moment when his mouth opened to form words that were never said and his eyes widened and stared at the monsters who had destroyed him.

Koshikawa's absolutely furious look and the dark scowl making its way onto his face, hiding his despair and shock at such a quick and easy win.

The referee groaned, slamming his face onto his pillow, trying to block out the thoughts that would eventually lead to-

Oshitari Kenya's shaking legs and his bloodied knees when he kneeled on the floor.

...Damn it.

He really needed to sleep.

**...So disappointed. I finally make a longer chapter, and after I read it through a few times I realize I kinda forgot to put the goddamn referee in it. After a bunch of editing and stuff, I've incorporated the guy, but not as much as the previous chapter.**

**Shaaaaame.**

**I've lost his emotion and stuffffff~**

**And school's started D: That should explain itself.**

**Atobe wiggled his way into here again, dragging along Yukimura. I don't know how it happened. And then Niou crawled in and aggggh. I wrote that first part at night. I'msorry.**

**IMPORTANT- I HAS A TUMBLR ACCOUNT! XD. I'll probably post very little, but if you want to see what's happening with me or if I have any news for any of my fics, just check. I'm under TarundoruSlap as usual :)**

**I feel as if I'm focusing too much on Rikkaidai and Shitenhouji. If I am, I apologize since nothing really happens in those two years other than some major court conflicts between everyone and Rikkaidai.**

**Alright, the chapter after the next one is gonna be a Q&A chapter. Don't worry, the chapter that's supposed to be there will be up right after I post the Q&A, but you can start questions from this chapter. About me, Atobe, the referee, or just the story itself. I may or may not post it, depending on how many questions I get.**

**Last but not least- WHO WANTS TO SEE OUR REFEREE'S PERSONAL LIFE? I'm not sure about myself, but... WHO WANTS TO SEE MORE ATOBE-REFEREE INTERACTION IN A FATHER-SON WAY? MEEE. I'm planning to make a chapter dedicated to our referee's home life without a lot of mentions about tennis, just so I can get some family loving between Atobe and the referee in there. I'm sorry, I just think it'd be cute. It would be that then the start of Ryoma's year then a Q&A and then the next chapter.**

**WHY IS THIS AN SO LONG? I'M SORRY.**

**Replies to Reviews**

**LainellaFey- Rikkaidai is my favorite team and I kinda called bullshit on Ryoma, as much as I loved the little piece of shit, but Yukimura was kind of winning in the beginning without using his Yips or anything while Ryoma dearest was huffing and puffing after using EVERYTHING and I was like 'ha-frickity-ha' then the Pinnacle of Perfection came and everything. Damn. But I had to hate on Rikkaidai a little bit when I was writing the referee because this referee is an adult who used to think Rikkaidai was his idol, so... I was the same with Niou and Fuji, since they're both awesome. Well, a lot of this chapter was mainly Rikkaidai crushing Shitenhouji and brief mentions of Rikkaidai crushing Hyotei, so... That's kinda way I wanted to write about the first two years, and so the referee could understand a bit more. Thanks for the review!**

**Onyxinlife- I've decided not to put any pairings in here since as a married man with a child, the referee wouldn't notice, and this is mainly about the rants of a poor man, so... But there is going to be slight outside interaction between Atobe and the referee, since I love the idea of them being in a father-son type of relationship. Thanks so much for reviewing!**

**Obese-Gorilla- YOU! AGAIN! I REMEMBER YOU! I like you. :D Shitenhouji's my second favorite team. I love them and d'awww. Yeah. Most teams weren't that spectacular at first, before all these crazy freshmen came and dominated shit. Rikkaidai just got reeeeally lucky and got a bunch of freshmen, same with Hyotei. Tennis innuendos. I tried, but I'm not good with that stuff since I'm very oblivious to those things, so... I know nothing of Japanese puns. Or anything Japanese that I don't research or just find randomly. Thanks again for the review!**


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